At Al Jazeera America: no audience, no problem (yet)

In the short time it's been on the air, Al Jazeera America has has managed to do the opposite of make waves, shoring up very modest results in terms of ratings and sizzle. BuzzFeed has a look at why that's just not all that important to the Qatar-funded network:

“For Al Jazeera America, if its editorial vision is right and correct, ratings are not important,” said Wadah Khanfar, who served as director general of the main Al Jazeera network, which is a separate operation from its U.S. counterpart, from 2003-2011. “When I was with Al Jazeera for eight years the ratings were not the issue. We never had the ratings as an integral part of our vision regarding what should be done and what shouldn’t be done.” ...

What is true about the relationship between Al Jazeera and Qatar internationally is also true with regard to its U.S. network, which is to say that for now it would rather accumulate prestige than profit.